Cow Dung-Clay Composites for Sustainable Masonry

Cow dung is a sustainable material that can be used to make bricks; when bricks are made entirely from clay, the top layer of soil is consumed, which is highly fertile and supports large-scale food production. Preserving it is very important for our environment as soil is important for binding trees, plant roots and other vegetation; so preserving it is very important for reducing erosion and landslides, as cow dung is used in place of clay. So, using it also protects the top layer of soil.
In Today's time when we use traditional bricks, the thermal insulation provided by these bricks is less; moreover, the weight of these bricks is also very high. They are also not sustainable for our environment as the production of these bricks not only deteriorate top soil but also leads to the emission of a large amount of carbon dioxide so cow-dung is a good alternative to clay.
This research aims to use cow-dung with clay in different proportions. Cow-dung used in bricks is 15% to 30% by volume. The standard size of these bricks is 19 X 9 X 9 cm. These bricks are kiln-fired as well as sun-dried and the compressive strength of both these samples of bricks is tested. Fibre is also reinforced in the bricks to check the compressive strength and weight.
A total of 24 brick samples are prepared. The compressive strength of these bricks ranges from 5.0 to 6.5 N/mm2 and when it is reinforced with fibre the compressive strength decreases and ranges from 3.5 to 6.0 N/mm2. The compressive strength of sun-dried cow dung bricks reinforced with fibre is also slightly lower than normal sun-dried bricks.
Another aim of this research is to find the weight of the cow dung bricks. The bricks which are sun-dried have weight ranging from 1.890 to 2.100 kg. The bricks which are kiln-fired have weight ranging from 1.770 to 1.960 kg. Generally, these bricks are lightweight. The reinforcement with fibre leads to decrease in compressive strength and a reduction in weight.

Cow-dung; Sun-dried; Mineral wool; Kiln-baked; Compressive strength

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